|
The Real Life Death of Sam McGee |
_____
We are all familiar with Robert Service's classic
"The Cremation of Sam McGee".
Colin was once commissioned by the family of the actual Sam McGee (a drinking
buddy of Service's) to write Sam's biography. The project eventually
died due to family squabbling, but the facts of Sam's death, as related
by his daughter, seem almost as bizarre and tragicomic as Service's poetic
version.
_____
Here, in rhyme and meter--as one might expect in any reference
to Sam McGee--is the story of his untimely end. The only detail
which is not accurate is the suggestion that McGee might have been
from Tennessee (as explicitly stated in Service's piece). Sam McGee
and his family were, in fact, from Kentucky.
|
Please click here to return to "The Real Life Death of Sam McGee".
Erbsenzaehler
(Figuratively: Bean Counter, Literally: Inheritance Counter) |
_____
As part of the Romani ethnic group, the Senti are a minority within a minority. The Rroma, better known as "gypsies", were the second largest victim group of the Nazi death camps. What we know as the "Holocaust" is called the "Porrajmos" (pronounced "por-RYE-mos", literally, "the devouring") by the Rroma.
_____"Was geht hier vor?" translates to "What's going on here?"
|
Please click here to return to "Erbsenzaehler".
|
The Faces of Eve |
|
_____
Don't you just hate it when people preface
a poem with some longwinded explanation? Sadly, like footnotes
to a play written in Old English, this one requires a little
background knowledge of Martian geology, natural history and
mythology.
_____
"The Faces of Eve" is
based on the picture of a face on Mars (considered
distinctly Neanderthal by expert observers). This mesa formation
has inspired considerable conjecture--especially in light of the
fact that Mars not only had rivers at one point but may also
have had an oxygen-based atmosphere (which would have since
imploded, obviously). Currently, an eggshell of ice rings the
core of the planet, covered by a thickening layer of oxygen-rich
blasted rock/sand. If life of any significant sort were to exist
on the planet it would have to be in the "greenhouse" created by
this protective layer of ice.
_____
That the features on the face of Mars are distinctly Neanderthal
is said to be consistent with the need for a natural "visor"
against the strong sun; the larger chests consistent with the
thinning atmosphere. These adaptations did not help Earth's
population; their greater size made it far more difficult for
them to survive stretches of famine. Their technology, which
was originally superior to that of our ancestors,
eventually fell behind it. The last Neanderthals
died out in the mountainous Basque region of what is now Spain.
_____
Now, the mythology and/or popular conjecture: What if our
atmosphere were imploding? What would we do?
Given our current level of technology, we would likely send
some of our people to whatever other nearby planet had oxygen
before the bulk of our population retreated below ground. Over
the centuries the ill-fated "colonists" and those remaining
behind (who form the "voice" here) might well lose contact (for
a variety of possible reasons) and forget about each other's
existence. To those left behind (who form the voice of this
poem) the colonists would pass from history into legend,
then myth and, finally, into oblivion.
|
Please click here to return to "The Faces of Eve".
|
Matryoshka's Prom
|
_____
A matryoshka is a Russian set of "dolls within dolls". We open one to reveal another within, then another within that one, etc.
|
Please click here to return to "Matryoshka's Prom".
Please click here to return to "Holly Would".
|
Tephra |
_____
The Mediterranean island of Thera was destroyed by a volcanic
eruption in 1628 B.C. The explosion lit up the sky in Egypt (then
under the reign of Thutmose II) for weeks. Tidal waves destroyed
the Greek coastline hundreds of miles away. Thera's ash ("tephra") fell all over the world. It was recorded for weeks afterwards
in China. To this day we see evidence of it at the bottom of the Black
Sea, in the rings of trees in California and in Arctic ice.
_____
Now the island of Santorini, the original city state of Thera is
little more than a caldera (i.e. crater). Only some frescoes in the
outlying buildings tell us of a remarkable, peaceful culture.
_____
Many scientists believe that Thera/Santorini is, in fact, the
legendary lost city of Atlantis.
|
Please click here to return to "Tephra".
|
Silencers |
_____After Gordon Lightfoot's "Black Day in July" was banned from U.S. radio stations Van Morrison had to change the title of "My Brown Skinned Girl" to "My Brown Eyed Girl".
_____These are far from the only instances where corporate or commercial censorship intervened. John Stewart's "Armstrong" was barred when distributors wrongly decided that it criticized the moon walk. Other examples abound.
_____Now we have Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11".
|
Please click here to return to "Silencers".
|
Aufwallung |
____
Pearl divers are taught to stay down as long as they can, such that each dive is a near drowning.
____In German, "aufwallung" means "to boil up". Its slang meaning refers to orgasm.
|
Please click here to return to "Aufwallung".
Please click here to return to "Another Washington Memorial".
|
Brinks Truck Roadkill |
_____
The last line is taken from Federico Garcia Lorca's famous "Lament for Ignacio Sánchez Mejías", written for a
friend of the poet's who was gored to death in the ring.
_____The repetend, "at five in the afternoon", is one of the
most famous lines in 20th century poetry. The Brinks truck refers to the transport of Spain's conquistador
gold to the U.S.S.R. for "safekeeping".
1. The Goring and the Death
At five in the afternoon.
It was just five in the afternoon.
A boy brought the white sheet
at five in the afternoon.
A basket of lime made ready
at five in the afternoon.
The rest was death and only death
at five in the afternoon.
The wind blew the cotton wool away
at five in the afternoon.
And oxide scattered nickel and glass
at five in the afternoon.
Now the dove and the leopard fight
at five in the afternoon.
And a thigh with a desolate horn
at five in the afternoon.
The bass-pipe sound began
at five in the afternoon.
The bells of arsenic, the smoke
at five in the afternoon.
Silent crowds on corners
at five in the afternoon.
And only the bull with risen heart!
at five in the afternoon.
When the snow-sweat appeared
at five in the afternoon.
when the arena was splashed with iodine
at five in the afternoon.
death laid its eggs in the wound
at five in the afternoon.
At five in the afternoon.
At just five in the afternoon.
A coffin on wheels for his bed
at five in the afternoon.
Bones and flutes sound in his ear
at five in the afternoon.
Now the bull bellows on his brow
at five in the afternoon.
The room glows with agony
at five in the afternoon.
Now out of distance gangrene comes
at five in the afternoon.
Trumpets of lilies for the green groin
at five in the afternoon.
Wounds burning like suns
at five in the afternoon,
and the people smashing windows
at five in the afternoon.
At five in the afternoon.
Ay, what a fearful five in the afternoon!
It was five on every clock!
It was five of a dark afternoon!
|
Please click here to return to "Brinks Truck Roadkill".
|
Christmas Season, 2004 |
_____
During the Christmas season of 2004 a tsunami struck the Asian coastline, killing thousands and devastating the landscape.
|
Please click here to return to "Christmas Season, 2004".
|
Inukshuk |
_____
An "inukshuk" is an Inuit rock signal built to mark the passing-by of an individual or group. The size, type, colour, shape and position of the stones convey a message to other Inuit who chance upon it. Inukshuee (the plural of "inukshuk") also serve to tell travellers of hunting conditions and the geography ahead. Click here to see an article on and photograph of an inukshuk.
_____
If we accepted this as a form of writing it would be the oldest known to humankind, predating Egyptian heiroglyphics and Chinese writing by eons.
_____
A "nanook" is a polar bear--a symbol of death to the Inuit.
_____
It would be unusual for an Innu to "waste" a good piece of soapstone (i.e. one which could be carved into a sizeable sculpture) on an inukshuk.
|
Please click here to return to "Inukshuk".
|
Ekaterinburg |
_____
On July 16th, 1918, a church basement in the Urals town of Ekaterinburg was the scene of the execution of the Russian royal family. Their corpses were dumped into a nearby mine shaft and covered with lime. Later, the bones were retrieved and tossed into a marsh.
_____
The English word "bog" is also the Russian word for "god".
|
Please click here to return to "Ekaterinburg".
Please click here to return to "By George!".
|
Tecumseh |
_____
Tecumseh's name translates to "Panther that Crouches in Wait" but he had the nickname "Shooting Star" due to the fact that he was born while a comet flashed through the sky. His first father died in battle. Out of respect he referred to British General Procter as "father", but in 1813 Procter was to be courtmartialed and dismissed from service for abandoning his ally, Tecumseh, to his death on the battlefield.
_____Tecumseh's humane treatment of prisoners and integrity made him a hero to Americans while his alliance with the British explains the reverence paid him by Canadians. This elegy to him is a DATIA in curginic format.
The meters of the stanzas are:
1 Anapestic Hexameter
2 Amphibrachic Tetrameter
3 Trochaic Hexameter
4 Iambic Hexameter
5 Dactyllic Pentameter
You, Canadian? The greatest American? You fought to be neither, but nor
were you panther that crouches in wait. You were egret, your feet in the mud
as you stood above weeds. Both your fathers would leave you to war.
Brock would say "No more valorous warrior exists." Sure as apple trees bud,
the pleas of a peacemaker can't be imparted
while even your traplines have got to be guarded.
Time was gravity, as shooting stars descended.
Time was charity, and at the Thames it ended.
The cities were the bellows of the wind that blew
at Prophetstown, across the rivers, over you.
Gray wolves surround the egret. Foxes slink away,
their turn tail coats the color of your blood. You'd say:
"Sing your death song and then die like a hero returning home."
Yours was the song of that egret, your life like a burning poem.
|
Please click here to return to "Tecumseh".
|
PET |
_____
After serving as Justice Minister, during which time he coined the expression "a just society", Pierre Eliot Trudeau was Prime Minister of Canada from 1968 to 1984 (except for a few months when his party was voted out). His leadership was characterized by the courage to pass progressive legislation over the objections of conservative critics. In 1982 he repatriated Canada's consistitution, essentially making Canada a sovereign nation. In 1984 he took a walk in the snow, during which he decided to resign.
_____
Trudeau's flamboyant reputation, symbolized by the rose he often wore in his buttonhole, belied the fact that he was a very private individual, never happier than when paddling a canoe alone in the northern wilderness.
_____
In 1998 Trudeau's son, Michel, died in an avalanche while skiing. PET (the only Canadian leader who, like RFK, JFK or LBJ, was known by his initials) never recovered from this loss. He died of prostate cancer on September 28th, 2000, and was buried in Montreal on a snowy day in October, 2000. CBC commentator Rex Murphy said of Trudeau: "He has gone to his grace, and that leaves so much less of ours."
|
Please click here to return to "PET".
|
Looking for Lorca |
- S1:L1: When his friends, Salvador Dali and Louis Bunuel, produced the infamous short film "Un Chien Andalou" in 1928 Lorca (who was from Granada in Andalusia) took offence, believing it to be about him.
- S1:L3-L4: Cante Jondo can refer to either the folk music festival ("la fiesta de Cante Jonto") or to the "deep song" music that it featured. The heavy gitano (i.e. gyspy) influence of the 1922 festival was to play a pivotal role in turning Lorca from abogado (i.e. lawyer) to artist. In 1928, Lorca's "Rimer Romancero Gitano" confirmed that he was the best known Spanish poet.
- S1:L5: Lorca's first play, "The Butterfly's Evil Spell", with its all-insect cast, bombed in 1920. He was still a law student in Madrid.
- S1:L6-L7: Lorca's inability to speak English turned his sojourn in New York into a disaster. He retreated to Cuba to regroup for a short while; there he wrote "A Poet in New York".
- S2:L1-L2: One of Lorca's plays was entitled "Asi Que Pasen Cinco Años" (i.e "Thus Passes Five Years"). Nightingales were often mentioned in his work. In "Asi Que Pasen Cinco Años" he writes: "Tell every one that it was just the nightingale". In "Lament for Ignacio Sánchez Mejías" he wrote "Oh, nightingale of his veins!"
- S2:L4: The 4-part "Lament for Ignacio Sánchez Mejías" (1935) contains one of the most famous repetends in 20th Century world literature: "at five in the afternoon". If you have never read this poem click here.
- S2:L5: Many of Lorca's works (e.g. his plays "Blood Wedding", "Yerma", etc.) featured themes of infidelity and associated bloodshed.
- S2-L8: Mark McKenzie's 1997 film "The Disappearance of Garcia Lorca" portrayed Lorca's last words as "Where is my moon?" Of course, this was apocryphallic, likely based on a line from the second part of "Lament for Ignacio Sánchez Mejías".
|
Please click here to return to "Looking for Lorca".
Ward's Rules of Poetry
| 1. |
Never say anything in a poem that you wouldn't say in a bar. |
| 2. |
If you can't be profound be vague. |
| 3. |
Learn the difference between poetry and hebephrenia. |
| 4. |
The McNeilley Rule:Cut off the last line! This will make your poem better!
(If this doesn't work, keep cutting off the last line.) |
| 5. |
Sloganeering is about what you said and how you said it.
Poetry is about how you avoided saying it. |
| 6. |
Poetry lies between synonyms. |
| 7. |
The difference between self-expression and communication is poetry. |
| 8. |
If you can't spell a word don't use it. |
| 9. |
Bad poetry haunts the writer.
Good poetry haunts the reader. |
Comments:
You are visitor #
since July 16th, 2002.